Legal Question in Traffic Law in New Jersey

If the police impound my car for no insurance or registration in the state of New Jersey, do I have to get registration and insurance to get it back? And can I hire an independent tow truck company to get it out of the police impound? And is there a state law for New Jersey that states that I must have insurance to retrieve a car from police impound?


Asked on 10/22/13, 7:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jonathan Mincis Jonathan J. Mincis, Esq. Law Offices

My belief is that the police will not authorize the release of the vehicle unless you can show them that the car is properly insured. I have had several clients that have had their car towed and impounded for (allegedly) driving without Insurance and the impound would not release the vehicle until the police in the town where the case was pending gave the authorization for the owner to retrieve the vehicle. If the car is uninsured it is not supposed to be on the road. The tow truck question I cannot answer. If the police allow you to retrieve the car, provided you have rectified the insuance issue, I don't see why the impound would care if you decided to hire an independent Towing company to get the car. They would probably want you satisfy the storage costs before they agreed to release it. However, you would still need to deal with the insurance issue if you received a summons for driving without insurance which is a very serious ticket. I hope that helps (201)-342-5030.

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Answered on 10/23/13, 3:16 pm


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